Paintball
by arabellagaleotti
Summary: The classic field trip trope. Tony Stark is up to his meddling ways when Peter and his class visit SI. Fluffy, oneshot.


I'm about to go on a school trip when I notice the danger.

It's to Stark Tower. I've got a feeling that Mr. Stark went to the school and arranged the whole thing. The danger-sense runs up my spine when I stand outside the obnoxiously yellow school bus. I look around, but everything is fine. My spidey-senses are annoying like that, they aren't a miracle worker and half the time it's only the puddle in front of me.

I'm watching you, puddle, I think, eyeing the water reflecting the blustery blue sky.

After an unfathomable amount of teasing on the weeks leading up to the trip by Flash, the bus ride isn't so bad. Everyone's too excited about going to care about some random kid that said he had a Stark internship.

Once there, everyone's herded into the main lobby by the teachers. It's nice, clean and understated, all chrome and high-tech. The receptionists start to hand out passes - plain white cards with a zip code and GUEST printed across the bottom. When Liza, one of the secretaries, reaches me she smiles brightly.

"Heya Peter. How are you?" Most of the staff at least know me by sight. It's hard not to, seeing I'm around a lot. And, a teeneger with more exposure to Tony Stark than most of the board of directors is a topic for gossip, to say the least.

"I'm good, thanks Liza. How's the new apartment?"

"It was such a pain moving, but I'm really glad I did. I didn't grab you a guest pass, I figured you could use your own?"

"Yeah. I think I have it in my bag." Liza moves down the line, while everybody gawks at me. It's apparent that I'm not lying about my internship. I just smirk, pulling out a shiny matte card clipped to a lanyard, which I slip around my neck.

Next we line up to go through the scanners permitting us further entry into the tower. Flash gets locked out, and his face while the automated bot repeats: 'you do know whose tower this is, right? If you're trying to rob the place, you're out of luck.' in Tony Stark's voice. He made that certain security feature while drunk, and Pepper practically had an aneurysm when she heard. I chuckle, recalling the memory. Flash glares at me, thinking I'm laughing at him.

Then it's my turn to pass my card over the scanner. Instead of the automated bots FRIDAY speaks:

"Hello Peter, you're early for any of your scheduled visits."

"Yeah, school trip." I say awkwardly, rubbing a hand over the back of my neck. My classmates mutter around me again. I catch more than one variation of: 'Oh my god, so he wasn't lying?', 'so his internship is real?' and finally, what I'm pretty sure is Ned's gleeful voice: 'I told you guys! He's not lying!'

"Mr. Stark has been anxious for your arrival."

"Oh my god," I moan, "what's he gonna do?" Asking is pointless, I already know the answer.

"I am prohibited from telling you that." Yep. Predicted.

"Great." I mutter, stepping through the metal detector.

Everything goes fine, if rather boring. I've already had several tours of the place and knowing what's upstairs and how cool it is doesn't help.

It's only when a certain Natasha Romanoff strolls 'oh-so-innocently' into our class that I know Mr. Stark's planning something. Amid all of the 'oohhs' and 'aahhs' she still finds time to push through the crowd and make it to me.

"Hey Pete," she smiles wickedly.

"How much is Tony paying you?" I deadpan.

"Oh I'm being paid in your embarrassment, детский паук," she turns to face the rest of the class, now staring open-mouthed. "Hey, this is my main man, Peter Parker. I would like everyone to know, he once cried when Mufasa died on The Lion King!"

"That was one time and it was very emotional," I defend, wanting to sink into the ground of embarrassment.

Natasha knows this and she swoops down and kisses my cheek, leaving a sticky red imprint.

I turn at hit my head against the wall as she sashays away, leaving only a 'Seeya Peter!' in her wake. By the time I've nearly recovered the class is halfway down the hallway, some still lurking to gape at me.

We're now in a hallway lined with some of the less experimental labs. Some even have widows showing inside. A door opens down the hallway. A certain blonde-haired super soldier exits, bare-chested and shaking hands with a man in a white coat, presumably a doctor.

\- Boy or girl - most of the class screams at the sight of Captain America shirtless. He looks up, eyes zeroing on me immediately. I raise my eyebrows and he shrugs, walking towards us, thankfully slipping a shirt over his head while doing so.

"You're here too?" I ask despairingly.

Steve grins, "Yep, Tony's called in everyone."

"Demanded you have your check-up here, in a semi-public hallway along our classes route conveniently timed so we would see you?"

He just sighs, "You know Tony."

"I'm starting to regret it." I intone, "Don't tell Mr. Stark I said that, FRIDAY!"

"I'm sorry Peter, too late." FRIDAY'S smooth voice is replaced with Tony's, "I'm hurt, kid."

Steve huffs a laugh, "don't take it personal, Tony. Most people you meet hate you within seconds."

"I'll have you know I can be very charming." Tony's voice issues though the speakers.

Steve snorts, "sure you can."

"What are you implying, Capiscle?"

"I'll believe it when I see it, that's what I'm implying."

Tony goes off the air with a muffled 'hmph'.

"Anyway kid, I've gotta run. See ya later." Steve claps me on the back, walking down the carpeted corridor.

Everyone burst into chatter the moment he's gone. Including Ned, who zooms straight up to me with a awestruck 'duude' leaving his lips.

We run into Pepper next. She dives straight towards me.

"I'm getting out of here, I know what the've got planned -"

"I've been given instructions to make sure you do not inform Mr. Parker of the plan. If you continue to try and inform Peter, I will have to drown you out with a selection of Mr. Stark's favourite songs, per his instruction." FRIDAY almost sounds regretful. Almost, you stone-hearted robot.

Pepper sighs, "I won't put you though that, Peter, knowing won't change the outcome anyway. All I can say is," she looks me straight in the eye, "run, while you have the chance." And with that she continues down the hallway, talking into her phone already.

I can't ditch the field trip, and it would be useless trying. Mr. Stark would never let me. It's another half hour of what I'm sure is extremely interesting to everyone else, but I'm so on edge that my Spidey-senses seem to be on permanently, prickling up and down my spine.

The faint cracking of gunshots shoes though the corridor.

This is bad, no, no, no, no.

"Everyone get down, everyone get down!" I yell, Ned throws himself to the floor over-enthusiastically, and everyone more or less follows.

Flash is too late, and a burst of red appears directly in the middle of his chest, he falls to the floor, clutching the red dramatically.

Our teacher screams, crawling across to the injured student. She grabs at his wound, but when her hand comes away, it smells strongly like paint and the red is too tacky to be blood.

"It's...It's paint?"

The guides face goes slack, "Oh no. I've heard about this," she says darkly, eyes flitting around nervously. The cracking of gunfire comes closer.

The vent directly over our heads is unscrewed, a bulletproof vest, loaded paint gun, goggles, and a small bag of extra ammunition dropping down. "Five minutes, Peter!" Clint yells, popping his head out of the grate, "Same teams. Soviet oldies' base is in the cafeteria and Iron-Spider Katniss in conference room #7. Don't worry, Pepper's had the whole place evacuated. And be careful, Steve's bringing out the big guns and Nat's determined to win."

I swear, scrambling to collect the equipment. Flash is moaning, holding his chest and recounting his near-death tale to his admirers. Attention turns to me though when I slip the vest over my head and tighten the straps under my arms.

Ned looks up at me with wide eyes. "What's going on, Peter?"

I pick up the gun, stuffing the extra paintballs in my pocket. "Avengers paintball," I say grimly, fitting the goggles over my head. "Gotta go," I turn on my heel, sprinting down the hallway, amid the shouts of the teacher.

I end up in the lobby just as the rest of the class is getting organised to leave. I'm wearing a silly grin and splattered in multi-colored paint. The team wanders out to see me go, with Nat pulling me in for an affectionate hug. She smells like turpentine and paint.

Bucky glowers good-naturedly, his metal arm covered in purple. "I still think that it was cheating," the comment arouses groans from everyone.

"Come on Bucky," Steve punches him on the shoulder, the human one.

"ты плохой неудачник." Black Widow tells him.

He replies back, "Это был обман!"

"Sure it was," replies Steve.

Everyone looks at him in surprise.

"What? I've been learning Russian, I don't like you three-" he singles out Natasha, Bucky and Wanda, "- having your own way of communicating. Bad things will happen."

"сколько, по вашему мнению, он знает?" Natasha says calmly.

"слишком много," Wanda crosses her arms, gazing at Steve with a streak of blue across her forehead.

"мы должны закончить его сейчас, прежде чем он слишком мн гому научится." Bucky agrees.

"Okay, I don't know that much, but from what I do know, I'm gonna start running."

Natasha grins, and that's all the indication Steve needs before he's sprinting up the stairs. Natasha follows on foot and Bucky disappears, no doubt to sneak up on him. Wanda stays put, laughing at his reaction.

I fight back a grin. "Okay, okay, I gotta go."

"Awww!" Tony complains, "can't you stay? I'll sign you out."

"You can't do that. Anyway, May's picking me up from school."

Tony smiles ruefully, he pulls me in for a warm hug. "You're coming over on Saturday, right?"

"Yeah," I confirm.

"See you then, buddy."

"I'll admit: you won, fair and square, kid." Wanda lowers her auburn-haired head, bowing.

"I'm glad you've seen your true master." I tease.

My class starts to file out of the lobby, after they've finished gawking at me and the Avengers.

"Peter!" It's Ned, waving his hand and no doubt itching to hear all the tales of my time playing paintball. I jog to catch up, reaching to dig out my security card. I'm barely late to the bus, Ned waiting for me at the yellow doors, practically vibrating with excitement.

I wave off his questions, "let's just sit down first, okay?"

Ned agrees, and we make our way down the aisle, whispers breaking out as I pass. We - finally - sit down on the cracked leather seats.

MJ's in the row of seats in front of us. She turns around, flipping her book closed. "You have paint on your cheek, loser."

I just laugh, and Ned breaks into so many questions I can't even. "Okay! Slow down, Ned!" I chuckle, a smile so wide it literally hurts my face

Flash is suspiciously quiet for the rest of the trip back.


End file.
